The Great Boer War

A. Conan Doyle

Published by McClure, Phillips & Company, New York, 1900

About this Item

Stated Second Impression, November 1900. The First Impression was published in October, 1900. With five fold-out color maps, including the larger frontispiece map. All the maps are present and in very good condition. The frontispiece map has a very small tear off an edge, not reaching the map proper (is that a term?). It also has a small tear that just barely reaches over the edge of the map proper (1/16th of an inch over). In the same place it has a few thin creases that extends an inch or two into the map, caused by the edge meeting the facing page and bending in just a little. Overall, the map looks great. That's the case with the four smaller maps. I just saw one tiny edge tear on one. You can see the covers of the book in the photos. They've held up really well. The paste-down on the front cover is in pretty nice shape. One of the outer edges looks a bit rough-cut, while the others are smooth, but that's the way it was produced based on how the other copies for sale look). A tiny bit of the orange color is gone at the bottom edge and the color at the top edge is a little dulled. There is very light handling soiling on the white part of the illustration. The dark blue covers are very clean. The gilt lettering on the spine is very bright. The six cover edges are in excellent shape, no rubbing. Each of the corners has just a speck-sized spot of rubbing, one perhaps not even that. The spine ends have just tiny bits of rubbing, the bottom one has some bending. The top page edge is a little toned but looks pretty clean. The middle and bottom page edges are clearly deckled or rough-cut. I think they're also quite clean because I'm not finding any soiling off the edges of the pages. Importantly, the book is very solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout and nicely tight covers as well. The pages look very clean. I've scrolled through them a number of times without finding any conspicuous soiling. I could've missed something, but what I've seen looks perfectly clean. The pages are in nice shape as well. The outer edges of some of the pages that are cut a little longer than others have an occasional very tiny tear. I didn't see any significant tears anywhere in the book. Those pages that stick out a little longer also have a thin bit of vertical toning over maybe 1/8th of an inch going inward. The only creasing I'm running into is toward the end of the book, some of the last 30 or so pages have a crease off the top corner and top edge, nothing dramatic, not a turned-down corner crease or placeholder crease. I don't think there are any of those in the book. The previous owner has his name stamped in blue calligraphed letters on both the front and rear inside covers (David Miller, with a too fancy to identify middle initial, probably a B. There are no other stampings or markings to be found anywhere in the book. There are no attachments of any kind in the book. And there is no writing of any kind in the book. A very well-preserved, very solid book. 'The Great Boer War is a non-fiction work on the Boer War by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1900. By the end of the war in 1902 the book had been published in sixteen editions, constantly revised by Doyle. The Introduction describes the book as: "A very thorough account, including tables at the end of those killed or wounded up until the 8th September when he left South Africa. This account is compiled with as much accuracy as was attainable at this date, and with as much detail as a single volume will permit. In frequent conversations with Boers, Conan Doyle has endeavoured to get their views upon both political and military questions. Often the only documents he had to consult were the convalescent officers and men under his care, therefore some errors may have crept in. The closing scenes of the war have necessarily been treated with less detail. The book was completed in September 1900, at a time when the British believed that the war was over.'.

Seller Inventory # 004200

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Great Boer War
• Publisher: McClure, Phillips & Company, New York
• Publication Date: 1900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Crème de la crème
  • Military, War
  • Antiquarian